Oh, I do love a good 100 day project, and London born, California based artist Katie McCann has given herself a great one: #100DaysofPaperHeads … love love love! She’s been working on this series since April 2017 and is just finishing up. I was tempted to post all of them, but that would be tiny bit crazy… right? Here’s her artist statement, which I also happen to love oh so very much:

”I have known such a creature” (Charles Altamont Doyle) is how I start my collages. As a child, I lived in a wonder world of faeries, witches, science fiction and botany. Not much has changed, the only difference being that I record all of my thoughts and stories in the form of intricately cut and pieced together collages. I like everything old and a little tired so I seek out images and photographs that are antique, vintage and forgotten. I transform these paper memories and records into other worldly creatures who are sometimes static like specimens and at other times are surviving in a unique habitat. I am rooted in the tradition of old fashioned childhood where discovery was at the bottom of the garden in amongst the crushed leaves, the lilac and the fungi. I hope that the creatures I uncovered in that quiet landscape are reflected in my collages.

Oooh, intricate hand-cut collages. This is the very organized work of London based artist/designer Mandi Keighran. Not only are her color palettes gorgeous, and her cuts insanely precise but she also notes the magazine each piece was created with… and sometimes she even lists how many tiny pieces went into the piece. Have I mentioned that I love systems and organization?

ps. There are only a few items in her Etsy shop and as luck would have it all of them are in this post! ps. she’ll be adding more tomorrow!

Oh, where do I begin? This show is so important to me. It’s an ode to a Canadian great – singer songwriter and front man of The Tragically Hip, Gord Downie. If you’re Canadian you know all about The Hip. For those of you who don’t, they are an iconic band that so many of us know and love. Gord is a musical genius, and sadly was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer last year. You could hear a nation gasp when that news was made public. I wanted to do something, but what? An art show, of course. Here is the curatorial statement for the show that opens THIS SATURDAY, JULY 8th at Mayberry Fine Art in Toronto {4-7pm}

“That Night In Toronto”

Poetry. That is the best way to describe any and all lyrics written by Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip. From “wheat kings and pretty things”, to “musical chairs, double dares, memorized stairs” the words from these generation defining songs strike a chord in, well, anyone who has ever heard them. As a curator, and artist, I want to honor this poetry the only way I know how – visually. I asked ten Canadian artists to create original work inspired by their favourite Tragically Hip lyrics. FYI, it was very difficult to choose, which is why some artists have more than one piece in the show! Originally, I was going to assign bits of Hip poetry to each of them, but every artist came back with stories of their favorite songs – memories from road trips, University, concerts, breakups, dance floors, house parties and the list goes on. The paintings, drawings, sculptures, collages, paper-cut pieces they’ve created are beyond what I ever could have imagined. Stunning artwork, each with the magical power to conjure up a song.

This show is a heartfelt tribute from one group of Canadian artists to another – and simply our way of saying, “Hey man, thanks”.

ps. Twenty per cent of sales will be donated to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research via Sunnybrook Hospital.

If you can come, please do. I will be there with bells on, or at least a Hip t-shirt. Mayberry is just across the street from the AGO {324 Dundas Street West}. Send your RSVP to toronto@mayberryfineart.com – see you soon!

I know you’re already wondering… it’s pencil & gouache on paper. So beautiful! This is the lovely work of Vancouver based artist/illustrator Janice Wu. I am totally smitten with her entire portfolio of found bits and pieces – yep, anyone who can turn trash into treasure is a-ok in my book! ps. Now I want strawberry candies.

Seriously, how does she do it? Just kidding, I totally know how she does it because I had India born, Sydney based artist Gunjan Aylawadi on my podcast and she told me everything! These are just a few of her latest, and always insane, woven paper sculptures. The series is titled “Place for Prayer” and will be hanging in a new show that opens THIS SATURDAY, June 24th in Sydney at Koskela.

“In the last few years, my slow meditative paper weaving practice has evolved from two-dimensional paper tapestries to three-dimensional geometric sculptures. In this show, I have attempted to create a body of work exploring the idea of prayer and carving out a place for personal meditative contemplation. Inspired by the geometry, architecture and arabesque patterns in temples/churches/mosques that I grew up around, these works are an invitation to viewers to pause, observe, contemplate and rest.”

Sigh. Beautiful. The shows runs until July 23rd. {Also, how great is it that her clothes match her work!?}

Unconventional and absurd? Yep, that pretty much describes my “s’moreo” photo for the day 7 prompt {“snacks”} from the first week of camp{combined with a photo of me, age 6}. And yes, you better believe I have a fresh s’moreo sitting right beside me at this very moment! So, before we get started on week 3 at AFYE Summer Camp, I want to show you just a handful of images created for last week’s art project (hashtagged #AFYEcamp). “Collaboration-Nation”, indeed! I did it too {posted below} by getting my husband and son to each make marks on a scary wooden panel I’ve been nervous to “ruin”… and I love it! Red marks made by my son Charlie, orange marks by my husband / amazing AFYE producer Greg, and the final piece by me:

Ahh, finally, that wood panel has paint on it… the title: “The rainbows and candy-colored chaos gave it away – Suzanne was hashtag blessed.”

And, of course, here are just a few of the many, many fabulous pieces you all collaborated on {photo credit links are at the very bottom of the post} :

So fantastic! Speaking of which, let’s get on to this week’s challenge:

Art Project No.3

Shopping List : Yep, we’re heading to the grocery store for our art supplies this week {feel free to buy ingredients for s’moreos while you’re there!}. Using unconventional, AND CHEAP, materials can help bring back that fun, childlike joy in making. Paper plates, bags of macaroni, lunch bags, plastic bags from the bakery dept, pie tins, potatoes for potato stamps… whatever you can find! And if you want this to be super duper cheap, ie free, just raid your recycle bin!

Artist Examples:

Here are three artists who don’t use the usual go-to art supplies for their work. First, American artist Hollie Chastain. She uses old book covers in place of canvas:

Ah, another week of camp done… another s’moreo eaten! Thank you to Saatchi Art for supporting summer camp, and thanks so much to you for listening! AFYE camp will be back on Saturday June 17th … until then, be sure to hashtag your unconventional material piece {or pieces!} on Instagram with #AFYEcamp. Have fun!

Oh, I am so doing this. In fact, my little sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project just arrived in the mail from the Brooklyn Art Library yesterday! Wanna do it too? Yes! We just missed the 2017 cut off, but I’m all in for 2018. Here are the ins and outs of this very cool project (est. 2006):

A GLOBAL ART PROJECT

Submit your work to the world’s largest collection of sketchbooks where it will reside in Brooklyn Art Library’s permanent collection, travel to exhibitions across the country and become part of a massive worldwide community of creative people. Anyone – from anywhere in the world – can be a part of the project. To participate and receive a sketchbook {from $30} which will become part of Brooklyn Art Library and our traveling exhibitions, sign up here.

Sign up by: January 5th, 2018

Postmark by: March 31st, 2018

Exhibition starts: June, 2018

2018 THEMES : UNDERWATER / THIS IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS / TEXTURES / LINES AND GRAPHICS / LONG STORIES WITH SHORT ENDINGS / A COMIC BOOK ENDING / NO WORRIES / TACOS / CONNECTIONS / PEOPLE I WISH I KNEW

I chose, “long stories with short endings” – granted all of these are just starting places, but that one spoke to me. Wish me luck, and please come along for the ride if you’d like to! Happy Friday.

Oooh! So. Much. Paper. This lovely take on landscapes is the collage work of Austin based artist Katy Schmader. She does landscape photography as well, but these textured, papery odes to nature took my breath away. I want to climb those clay cliffs, then dive into blue mountain lakes to cool off! These pieces are available, as insanely affordable prints, in Katy’s shop.

Woven portraits fresh off the cutting table! This is some recent work by Brooklyn based artist David Samuel Stern. I’ve written about him two other times... let’s just say it’s really hard not to share what he’s been up to. How does he do it? Well, this time I’ve got a few ‘behind the scenes’ photos, from start to finish, to share with you:

Sigh. Gorgeous… and I cannot even imagine having patience like David. Mind boggling.

Mermaids and unicorns + oil paint on paper … I could not be more in love with the work of South African artist Kirsten Beets. Simple shapes, gorgeous white space, and oh, those lovely little beach-goers! They look like collages, no? I was totally smitten the moment I saw those beautifully painted turquoise shapes, but yes, the unicorn floaties sealed the deal. Happy Friday!